#assimilating victims to the hivemind

[breezy-cheezy]

WHUMPTOBER Day 5:

Pinned down

Mr. Lee got infected with seaborn disease....due to the nature of it they can't sedate him to remove the infection so...mans is not having a good time.

Another idea I got from watching my friends brainstorm in the discord server :) More intense than my usual but still cool to work on!

[sonicexelle-junkary]

I think I might have a theory on what chaos wants.

For a hivemind the “victims” have reasonable body and mental autonomy, so what ever its plan is it’s not the complete domination over individualism.

It is how ever easily enraged by nearby unlinked individuals. This might be because it able to detect/discern the states of sapient life around it, leading to a stimuli overload.

Thus I think it trying to harmonise the many different thoughts it’s able to understand into a stable collective. It’s not evil, it’s not able to full grasp the individual mind scape. Thinking the fighting and hurting comes from the same pain it feels from so many disconnected minds.

Well, you aren’t entirely wrong with your theory. But I think there are some things to be clear about it.

The Master Emerald isn’t exactly good or misunderstood, but it’s not inherently evil either. It’s not even like an “animalistic urge” like how The Rot acts.

It does want to “harmonize” people, but not because of world peace or anything like that. It’s more of, for a lack of better words, because it wants to. It is curious of people, and thinks is “amusing” how easy it is to fuck with their minds and bodies.

Though the affected people are part of a hive mind, they only get “enraged” because of how annoyingly persistent others are at keeping their individuality. Especially ones like Knuckles and Shadow, who would go to the absolute extreme, hence the annoyance.

There is another added reason as to why it wants to do this, and why the affected aren’t trying to protect themselves from bodily harm after assimilation, and why bigger wounds cause bigger crystals.

But that’s for another time. I have some kinks to work out before I’m able to tell you all that.

[sonicasura]

I got done watching playthroughs of Poppy Playtime Chapter 3 from EmotionalMarcus and Superhorrorbro. Highly suggest the latter if you want to check it out as he found all the hidden tapes. Man was this chapter insane so here's my take on it with obvious massive spoilers.

Edit: For those who need a refresher, Ch 1 +2 VHS tapes, Chapter 3 Analog Trailers, Project Playtime VHS, Interactive ARG, and In-game Documents.

First off, Deep Sleep definitely answered a lot of questions but also left more too. The important ones revolving around the Prototype and the toys themselves. Here's a summarized version.

CatNap ran a cult worshipping the Prototype as his god. Toys were forced to follow him to survive in Playcare including the other Bigger Bodies Smiling Critters. However the food issue led to not only infighting but also cannibalism.

Picky Piggy ate Bubba Bubbaphant, KickinChickin and Craftycorn. Dog Day was labeled a heretic thus was slowly eaten by the smaller Critters until only his upper torso left. The horrific thing is he been left alive to suffer. At least until the smaller Critters' puppeted his body to chase after the Player.

Poppy and Kissy Missy wants to kill the Prototype. There's a possibility Kissy cared about a child in Playcare before she became a toy. Part of this being the theory that the Bigger Body was once a worker.

There were toys who served as teachers in the schoolhouse. Due to the Hour of Joy, one toy called Ms Delight gone insane and killed all her fellow teachers to survive. CatNap avoids her haunt for an unknown reason. Maybe because she's an ally or someone he once cared about.

CatNap had been a tool to the Prototype as he's killed for his failure. This might've not been a case once upon a time due to a theory about him used to being Elliot Ludwig. Apparently the Prototype acts as a hivemind with him assimilating and copying others.

Tom Sawyer/The Doctor gotten killed sometime before the Hour of Joy. It might've been the Prototype due to an interview tape between the two prior to Leith Pierre interview with CatNap. The abuse done to the toys might've spurred on the takeover.

Hour of Joy was a massive slaughter where every human been killed no matter who they were. CatNap might be responding for the kids death with Ollie being a possible toy survivor. Kissy Missy was taken over and been a participant as well. She might've gotten captured or killed at the end of the chapter.

Now onto my personal theories starting with the Prototype.

He is a hivemind based organism most likely made from Elliot Ludwig. The Prototype could've gone insane as he kept assimilating others. Possible breaking point that led to the Hour of Joy being the Doctor since he been studying him too than it being one sided.

The slaughter had an massive ulterior goal. Prototype doesn't require food and the shrine CatNap made of him has multiple human bodies in it. Ollie also confirmed that the shrine is nothing compared to the real deal.

The Prototype might've assimilated most of the victims before moving onto the other toys. Further proof is CatNap's state once you fully see him. He's so thin that you can his bones and ribcage. The employees were their only food provider which led to this post apocalyptic style cannibalism.

If the Prototype was benevolent then a lot of strings could be pulled where the corrupt humans perish and they puppet Playtime Co in the shadows. No more experiments as the company would function under them. Clueless employees delivering a constant food supply and the kids could actually see the real world. Maybe the toys follow them out as no one is aware.

Poppy even mentioned the Player running the company so she knew there was a better way to handle things. The Prototype locked her up to prevent this foil in his plans. Hour of Joy was a purposely planned slaughter.

Second theory involves Huggy Wuggy and the Player. Throughout the chapter, our first Bigger Body had been a major constant element. He is the first and last one we see through CatNap's nightmares. There's a hidden important connection which involves the Prototype too.

I think the hivemind spared him as it's clear they were more of a victim than foe. CatNap would've spare him if he left this all behind. Huggy Wuggy might've attacked the Player near the entrance during the Hour of Joy before leaving.

Final theory revolves around the toys. Dog Day and CatNap are further evidence that the Bigger Bodies can have diverse bodies. Mommy Longlegs died when she cut in half but the canine Smiling Critter didn't. Boxy Boxy devours people whole hinting at very strong stomach acid despite his small body while CatNap has an expanded ribcage and can breathe gas.

There is one common similarity amongst all the toys except for Poppy. All of them can be affected by the Prototype. My theory involves their brain containing an actual fragment from him. The Doctor constantly dissected the Prototype and might've added portions to the other toys as a key material in their creation.

It also explains why Mommy alongside Kissy aren't on his side. The Prototype's influence acts sorta like a suggestion meaning they can resist him. Mommy Longlegs was left alone as the more hostile Bigger Bodies look over their own territories. Huggy Wuggy is an exception since he acts more like a puppet until the Prototype activates him.

Things are heating up as Chapter Four might be the last one for Poppy Playtime since CatNap was the Prototype's final key player. I won't say there could be complications on the way as more experiments were mentioned in Chapter 3 specifically Experiment 'Void'.

For now, this is all we got.

[hostdoozy]

I am putting this thought here cause I think a lot about the Kraang and it is sad to see that the Rottmnt community reduced them to nothing more than set pieces or a hivemind (when they're clearly not)

I want to delve into Kraang3's abilities and how they differ from his elder siblings. so let's focus on the most DANGEROUS one out of the trio

Before I continue I do want to emphasise this point cause i cannot stress this enough, the Kraang themselves are NOT a hivemind. 1 & 2 throughout the movie have many instances of being individualistic, acting upon their own desires- the slight expectation being 3, who is obedient and restrained.

Does this mean 3 is not his own character? nope- he's still his own individual. Kraang3 is a loyal soldier awaiting commands from his Eldest brother 1 but with this being said, he's still capable of acting upon his own volition if the situation calls for it. (I.e protecting the key from Leo, then later on his confrontation with Donnie & mikey within the technodrome. )

"But Brew! How does this tie into Kraang3's abilities?"

You might be wondering. Well, my dear reader- it actually does, in some way. Now that I established that the Kraang themselves are NOT a hivemind. Kraang3 on the other hand, is capable of making them but out of other species.

The Kraang are (while not in a traditional sense) a parasitic-like race. They come to other planets for the pure purpose to conquer... to consume.. to mould the inhabitants into their ideal image.

Anything caught within it is assimilated and turned into a mindless drone. However, there is a slight flaw within 3's biomass. Which is the effects heavily vary upon the individual. Some are mutated beyond recognition- while in other instances- it merely clings itself onto the victim's flesh, invading their minds. The changes heavily vary from person to person. We don't know how far his hivemind can go- but his drones are capable of taking commands from his elder siblings at least. (side note: Biomass contains empyrean, the source of yokai and mutants.)

now, What kind of hivemind does 3Kraang create? The answer is kinda unclear. In some instances where YES, both the biomass and the drones act as an 'extension' of himself but in other moments, they're like worker bees protecting their queenbee. (the queenbee in this case, being the actual kraang, not just 3)

3's biomass can also possess machinery, creating unholy and terrifying abominations against nature. With machines- there is no will to conquer. Furthermore, 3's biomass once it reaches a certain point, can drain energy from an entire fucking city and redirect it into a MASSIVE portal into the sky.

ALL of that- is 3's doing. His siblings are incapable of doing this and are aware of it.

So before I get into that- just what the 1 & 2 abilities are? Allow me to break it down into a simpler list. we know that

Both Kraang 1 & 2 have some Shapeshifting properties. While they are not capable of changing their forms entirely, they can at least shift parts of their anatomy. This aids them in combat outside of their suits (I.e extending their limbs or shifting the density of their flesh)

Krang 1 can peer into his victim's mind. This can only be done physically and through his tendrils. It allows him to dig through their memories and gather intel. The process is evidently painful for the victim causing them to pass out upon kraang 1 retraction. (not canon however, it is worth noting that within a deleted scene. Kraang 1 instead forged a false dream in Raph's mind in which Raph "escaped" and ran back home. This was how the kraang were going to discover Tmnt's home initially)

Kraang1 can block mystic powers. Using his frills- Kraang1 can make a specific soundwave that blocks out his enemy's powers- forcing his opponent to face him and rely on their physical prowess rather than "tricks"

Both Kraang 1 & 2 are highly durable. They had buildings, wrecking balls, fucking 'acid'- thrown at them and while the experience is indeed painful, They manage. They quickly recover from that experience and press forward. They're relentless.

3's siblings never showed any signs of the same powers as he does.

Kraang1 knows this.

Throughout the entire movie. He is seen accompanying 3 the whole time, safely guarding his little brother and dictating his every move along the way. 1 knows how important 3 is to their future empire because neither he nor his sister, have what 3 has. It was not just the Technodrome they needed- it was also 3.

So even when the Technodrome was destroyed. it wasn't just the ship he was pissed about. he was also pissed about his little brother possibly perishing. 3 was IMPORTANT to their conquest, without him, They wouldn't be able to finish what they started all those centuries ago. 3's powers are crucial for their empire.

"you ruined everything!"

1 truly meant it when he said that. He admitted to defeat but retracted that statement with "You think you've won, you wretched little pest." - To sum up this moment, The dude is seething. He is coping that some teenagers outwitted him and killed his little brother, putting a cork in HIS plans. Even with the knowledge that his sister is alive back on earth. There won't be any way for her to 'reclaim' earth- since the two most essential things have been blown up to smithereens.

To conclude this weird tangent.

While Kraang1 is the eldest sibling/the leader. Kraang3 is the more dangerous one because of how he unique abilities. Without him, things would turn out very differently

also- completely unrelated, 3 reminds me of the homophobic dog meme.

okay, that is all. for now.

[the-m-e-a-t]

The M E A T is a parasitical undead hivemind that infests and consumes organic matter, twisting and warping the flesh of its victims like plasticine, creating horrifying betentacled flesh constructs.

The M E A T is nihilistic and pessimistic, it truly believes that life is pain, free will is an illusion, and true consciousness is a curse. It has dedicated it's immortal, undead existence to consuming and assimilating all life in order to bring endless rest to the universe.

When the M E A T infects a willing living host, that person joins the hivemind, their consciousness and personality are permanently preserved past the point of physical death for as long as any piece of the M E A T remains. They gain strength, agility, and the ability to control lesser constructs.

When an unwilling living host is infected, the M E A T grows inside their body, taking them over slowly and causing periodic blackouts where it tries to spread further.

When a dead body is infected, the M E A T incubates inside it, stripping the body of nutrients and calories to grow its own mass. The M E A T wears the body as a skin-suit, creating a ravenous, zombie-like grotesquery until a new construct is ready to shed the skin and emerge.

Current known entities:

@theetherealraphael - a willing host, and member of the MEAT

@ace--of-all-trades - a willing host who was invited to join the MEAT after offering to feed me several frozen corpses.

The Spiderling - a tentacle horror birthed from an unidentified corpse, currently hiding atop mons Olympus on @the-red-planet-mars

Atrax - a reanimated horse in a crater somewhere on mars.

The Titan - a grotesque amalgam of 9 frozen corpses. Whereabouts unknown.

The Burgers - 6 freshly made burgers on a grill somewhere that were made by Anon.

[starmeadowsystem]

Complete Monster Near Miss: The Crimson from Terraria

Qualifications

Heinousness Standard: Met.

Attempts to assimilate the entire Terraria Multiverse into itself. Victims of this are reduced into mindless beings unable to think or feel, blindly following the hivemind.

It's stated to have completely consumed thousands of worlds before this one.

When cults form around it, it's completely glad to accept human sacrifices.

While other Terraria villains threaten to destroy the world, the Crimson is unique enough in its approach to stand out on its own.

Lack of Redeeming Qualities: idk (see below)

Taken Seriously: Yes (Worth noting that its music creates dread for me more easily than the Corruption.)

Other Qualifying Factors: idk (again, see below)

Disqualifying Factors

The Crimson is motivated and completely devoted to its idea of Balance, and it doesn't seem to have an innately selfish motive for it. This means The Crimson is slightly well-intentioned despite the horrors it causes (which is a redeeming quality) or exhibits blue-and-orange morality (which limits its moral agency).

[aniverous]

The Absolute Solver

Currently the biggest mystery in the show, the Solver is as intriguing as it is confusing, so let's start off with what we know for certain:

It can be used by Disassembly Drones and Worker Drones alike, but the results look widely different so far between the species (superpowers for Workers, snake-crab form for Disassemblers)

The Disassembler version acts as a repair program, although it collects far more material than needed to repair it's host, focusing more on killing anyone it can find and improving itself

The DD version also assimilates the information of it's victims, and doesn't need to kill someone to make a hologram of them

The Worker version manifests as telekinesis, matter reshaping, telepathy, teleportation, and near invulnerability

Solver Workers cannot directly target other Solver Workers with any of their powers

All in all, not much is certain, and we're left with quite a few questions:

Where did the Solver come from and who created it?

Did it originate with the Murder or Worker Drones, or both?

Why is it so different for each species?

Can each species use the other version of the power if they know how?

Why is such a powerful program unknown about by almost everyone?

Is a Drone made with the program, or is it given to them later in life, or can it be either?

What are it's limits; the amount of material it can absorb or telekinetic power it can give?

Are the people absorbed by the DD version still themselves turned into part of a hivemind, or is the Solver just pretending with their memories and emotions(basically the Thing question)

Did the Solver actually want to rebuild J and was going the roundabout way of doing that, or was it using that as an excuse to activate?

Can a Disassembler control their Solver at all?

Were the humans on Copper 9 aware of the Solver's existence?

Does the Solver have anything to do with the Collapse or the decision to send the Disassemblers?

What do Doll's and Uzi's collars have to do with the Solver, if anything?

Why did Uzi's Solver activate now, when her life has been in danger before that moment?

Are there other Workers with Solvers, either on Copper 9 or elsewhere?

And of course:

16. What's Nori's connection to all this?

[the-era-of-shadow]

Good Ol' Mistaken Identity

Written by Ash Rose

Summary: Now that it's not the brink of dawn, and Widow has been awake for a while, the events of the early morning truly set into her mind - and she starts connecting the dots to something that had occurred a few days ago… And starts to feel bad about it.

CW/TWs: Mentions of death, very mild swearing

Notes: Haiii can you believe it?? Another story so soon? What is this, 2020 all over again? Well, not quite, since this summer vacation is, well, more permanent than the one I had then - which is what has given me the time to pump a story out so quickly in the first place - while also being much higher quality than one from 2020 (hopefully). Besides, this story is essentially the epilogue to In Regards anyways - split into a separate story as to prevent any new readers in the future from getting spoiled for Inner Connection due to the reading order.

(Four days after the events of “In Regards to a So-called Twisted Maiden”, two hours after the ending of “Inner Connection”)

Despite how busy everyone was at the moment, whether it be gathering supplies to create a makeshift aircraft or handling the components of Project Midnight and preparing it for travel, things were rather quiet amongst the Black Arms - words really only being exchanged through the hivemind when instructions needed to be handed out.

The near silence caused Widow’s mind to ponder upon the previous few days and the things that had occurred during them. It was a shame that those girls got away without much more than some trauma, she would have happily killed them all if it weren’t for her meltdown that had been triggered by that blue bastard of a hedgehog’s transformation into their so called “super” form.

But at least she herself was still alive, and Eclipse has some new wisps to assimilate into Dark Arms to boot - Widow did have to admit that. She also had to admit that it probably wouldn't be alive right now if it hadn’t been for some seemingly very quick thinking from her late husband Doom. At first, Widow didn’t quite have a grasp on what exactly had gone on in the moment that had saved her life, but now with the events that had happened just a few hours ago in her mind, it was able to surmise that Doom had momentarily possessed Shadow’s body and had pushed the limits of their power, all to defend her…

It reminded her of a similar event that had occurred just a few days prior, on a bit of a lesser scale. When she had noticed that it was being stalked by those self proclaimed “Freedom Trainees”, she had made the hasty and possibly even risky decision to find refuge in a pawn shop owned by the brother of her most recent victim… But despite having every reason to be cruel to her, the shop’s owner had treated her and Garrick with the utmost care - and if that wasn’t strange on its own, during the entire visit, she had been overwhelmed with the sensation of Doom’s presence despite no physical evidence for such a feeling, and had been hearing whispers of the voices of comrades long past. It had chalked it all up to coincidence and/or her mind playing tricks on her while in distress at the time, but when she had been compelled by what it now realized to be the hivemind to return to the pawn shop early the next morning, and had found the owner’s dead body and a note addressed to her by her real name, she realized that it was no coincidence. It really had been Doom the entire time, just possessing the body of the shop’s owner as he would later do with Shadow - though Widow doubted that the shop keeper had agreed to the arrangement like Shadow had. 

If only she had realized it sooner. Maybe Doom could have kept that body long term? Not that there seems to be much issue with the current arrangement with Shadow, but Widow couldn’t help but wonder, nor could she help but feel like it needed to apologize for her ignorance.

As these thoughts came to her, Widow noticed that Shadow was seemingly taking a quick break, and she decided to try to get its attention.

“Oh? Do you need help with something, mom?” They inquired, its attention being successfully grabbed by Widow, as shown by how its head turned to face her.

“I do, actually. Though… It isn’t about the aircraft, nor Project Midnight. Is that alright?” Widow answered, acknowledging how busy its child must be, and not wanting to be a bother to them. “Heh. You want to talk to dad again, don’t you?” Shadow correctly guessed, grinning in a teasing manner. Widow simply nodded, as her cheeks became noticeably warmer. “Let me see if he’s available.” They told her, its mischievous smile gaining a soft and loving tinge to it.

“Thank you, Shadow. Truly… I know how busy you must be right now, so it is quite nice of you to do this for me.” Widow said as she moved closer to Shadow’s side.

“I’m on my break, why wouldn’t I?” Shadow explained plainly.

“Oh, bless you, sweet child…” Widow responded sweetly, deciding to sit down on a large rock as she spoke, unintentionally revealing a piece of paper that was in one of the pockets of her coat to Shadow.

“Dad says that he needs a moment. But while we wait, may I ask what is in your pocket?” Shadow spoke after about thirty seconds of silence, pointing curiously to the paper still sticking out of Widow’s coat.

“Oh, this little thing? … I honestly had forgotten that I still had it with me…!” Widow replied, gently taking the paper from her pocket.

“I remember seeing you hold a piece of paper of a similar size when you, Eclipse, Omega and Garrick were taking Relic to the hospital a few days ago. Is this the same one I saw then?” Shadow continued to question, approaching Widow to get a closer look.

“I do believe it is, if memory serves me well… It’s a letter from your father, I do believe.” Widow answered, allowing Shadow to take the paper from her.

“A… letter from my father? But… how could that-” Shadow began to question, skimming past the part of the letter that notes it as being addressed to Widow and unfolding it right away in order to see what was written within. But before they had the chance to read it, or even to finish its sentence, Doom finally appeared to them and Widow, interrupting the current conversation.

“Ah, hello… Apologies for my late arrival - even spirits need their rest, and I had been ignoring that fact for a bit too long…” He said to the both of them as the amulet around Shadow’s neck began to illuminate his form.

“Oh dear me… Did we wake you, Doomie? I’m terribly sorry if that’s the case!” Widow wondered with concern.

“Same here.” Shadow added with a nod, feeling just as remorseful, even if it didn’t show as blatantly as it did with Widow.

“Please, do not be sorry… There are much bigger hurdles than this that I would overcome for your sake. This is of no concern.” Doom replied.

“Hmph… If you insist.” Shadow remarked, trying to hide its guilt.

“Anyways… What is it that you summon me for, my most beloved darling?” Doom then inquired, seating himself beside his dearest wife.

“Oh, it isn’t much, really…” Widow began to say as she took back the paper from Shadow, “All I want is to apologize for not realizing that it had been you in that little old pawn shop, really.” She then admitted.

“My dear Widow… Please have mercy on your heart, I have already forgiven you for such a thing, for I had on the day itself.” Doom explained to her, making his best attempt to lovingly cup their hand on Widow’s cheek despite his current form being incorporeal.

“Oh Doomie… Your forgiveness means the universe to me…” Widow replied tenderly, placing her hand perfectly on top of Doom’s, as if he was not a ghost, but still alive and with her.

“I… I’d really hate to interrupt you two, since you seem so happy to be in each other’s presence at the moment, but… I am… a bit confused as to what this is all about.” Shadow hesitantly spoke up.

“Confused…? Oh, why so? I do believe I told you about the ordeal after I came home that afternoon, and I allowed you to read the letter, so what is not clicking for you, dear?” Widow questioned, genuinely not understanding why Shadow would feel lost.

“Well, first of all, you told Eclipse, and you noticed me eavesdropping. But more importantly, you had relayed the tale of your visit to the pawn shop in the StarSpiral Mall back when you believed the owner to be his own person - Benson Cadere, and that “letter” is more like a poem, or a snippet of song lyrics, and a vague one at that.” Shadow explained rather bluntly.

"Ah… I do suppose it is, then..." Widow admitted with lighthearted embarrassment. "It seems that even though we are connected through a hivemind, you are not as skilled at seeing into Doomie's mystery as I am… My genuine apologies, Shadow."

"It's all alright." Shadow replied with a nod. "Now… May I have an explanation for all this, please?"

“Of course. I do believe it would be a good idea to make it so that we are all on the same boat, as the saying goes. Widow, my dearest, why don’t you get us started?” Doom proposed, gesturing Shadow to come sit with them and Widow after he had spoken.

“I’d love to~!” Widow answered happily. “I’ll start with how I personally interpreted your little note to me! Because of all of the men I’ve lured into being the meals I use to keep myself and Garrick alive, I face a lot of ridicule from the people of this planet. A lot of people want me locked away, and a lot of other people want me dead, either way, I am very often an unwelcome presence. This time, however, someone had decided to take that desire of theirs and act upon it, plotting to get rid of me by whatever means they were having in mind. My beloved Doomie, however, somehow saw this and intervened, stopping my assailant from being able to make even a single scratch on me~! My guess is that it was Benson, wanting revenge for his brother’s demise, given that it was his body that they were possessing. I also think that if I had noticed Doomie’s presence sooner, he could have possibly used Benson’s body long term, which is why I felt the need to apologize, by the way. It feels like an opportunity lost…” 

“Oh, Widow my dear, you worry far too much… Besides, do you not think an unwilling host would at some point wish to fight back? Or at the very least reawaken within the body after some time?” Doom argued, wrapping himself around Widow in an embrace.

“I concur. That sort of thing would just cause unnecessary drama. I’d imagine it’d be an intriguing concept for a TV show plot, but we’re here to be victorious, not to entertain.” Shadow added, fidgeting with the Doom’s Eye amulet, which was temporarily made to be better fitting for it by overlapping the necklace’s chain around their neck, making it look as if Shadow was wearing several necklaces at once. “Besides, I like my new position… I had very much missed the closeness I had once had with dad… I almost feel like I’m on the ARK again…”

“But now without that traitor…” Doom muttered to himself.

Widow was about to try to stop Shadow from inquiring further, knowing that they lacked the memories of witnessing Gerald’s prerecorded betrayal, and also knowing that any questions asked about it would probably make Doom immensely uncomfortable, but just as it looked like Shadow was about to speak, it independently decided to drop the subject for whatever reason, turning its head to Widow instead.

“Anyways - the note makes more sense to me now that you’ve explained your interpretation. You really know dad well.” They said to her with a kind smile, and a tone of voice that was both thankful, but also a tad bit playfully envious of just how close Widow was with Doom.

“I’d be disappointed in myself if I didn’t!” Widow responded lightheartedly.

“But that still leaves me with one more question…” Shadow began, turning away from Widow. “How were you able to possess this “Benson” person if you told me last night that my relation to you was one of the core reasons why you selected me as your vessel?!” It then dramatically questioned, turning and even pointing to Doom as they stood up from the rock all three of them had been sitting on. A few seconds went by of awkward silence, both Doom and Widow being caught off guard by the way Shadow had asked its question. “... That sounded more playfully theatrical in my head…” Shadow admitted awkwardly as their body closed into itself from the confident stance it had been in before.

“Ah… You are alright, Shadow.” Doom assured, both him and Widow giggling at the situation once the shock wore off. “I do suppose I have some explaining to do. Since I will be honest now and admit that I was… lying.”

“Lying?” Shadow echoed in confusion.

“About the genetic link being an essential component for me inhabiting a body. The truth is that I can actually possess any body that I please, as long as my amulet is nearby… At some point during one of the two’s searches for items to sell at their shop, Benson and his brother Reginald had uncovered the amulet and brought it back to their pawn shop. This is how I was able to see that after Widow had killed Reginald, Benson was plotting to kill Widow. When I had found this out, I lured Benson into sacrificing his body to me by using Chaos Control to teleport the amulet to the foot of his door. From there, he marked his own fate by putting the necklace on…” Doom very thoroughly explained, covering his bases for both Shadow and Widow’s questions. “Though I will admit, your relation to me, in terms of it being the factor that makes you a Black Arms, certainly does make this whole arrangement more… stable. My abilities may be more plentiful due to my godly nature, but I am still a Black Arms, after all.” He added, now speaking directly to Shadow.

“Right…! Now that I think about it, I remember being told by someone that Black Arms can exchange vessels, but can’t inhabit a non-Black Arms body… I think it was Rhygenta that shared that information with me?” Shadow recollected as it finally sat back down on the rock. “Anyways… Why did you lie about that? It definitely seems… unnecessary to do so, doesn’t it?” 

“... I hated seeing you be so… loathing towards your own self… I merely wished to give you a purpose, and with it, a reason to have for loving yourself… Something that you are able to provide for your brethren… It is what has worked for me.” Doom answered tenderly.

“Doomie…” Widow said in a somewhat stern tone.

“ -What I believed to have been working for me, until I was made aware by my fellow Black Arms leaders that I should find reasons to find worth within myself instead of purely what I can do for others.”  Doom added per Widow's subliminal request.

"... Thank you. I appreciate that you wanted to help me…" Shadow responded, tears quickly filling up their eyes and falling down its cheeks, despite its efforts to wipe them away.

"Are you alright, Shadow?" Widow asked, the sight of her child crying bringing her much concern.

"Mhm. Just… overwhelmed." Shadow answered simply, clearly unable to manage much more than that.

Through the hivemind, Widow attempted to see into Shadow's mind, wanting to know what it was that was bothering it. It was hazy, as if there was a fog throughout the connection, but she could get hints of disbelief. Specifically, disbelief of the fact that Doom is in fact struggling with many of the same things that Shadow is. An overwhelming sense of… finally being understood. Widow chalked up the bad connection to the intensity of Shadow’s feelings and decided to allow them to either sort it out themself, or to directly ask Widow for assistance.

“Do you plan on making a new chain for the Doom’s Eye amulet when you get the chance?” Doom asked Widow out of the blue, changing the subject.

“I do, in fact!” Widow replied, happily going along with the new topic.

“Really? I think I like wearing it like this, actually!” Shadow joined in on the conversation, bouncing right back from being the emotional wreck it was only a minute earlier.

“Are… you sure?” Doom hesitantly questioned Shadow.

“Looks like Shadow’s bad taste in things strikes again!” Widow remarked mischievously.

“Hey!!” Shadow reacted - forcefully, yet clearly not seriously upset. “I thought you had moved past siding with the general public when it came to that!” It added.

“Shadow, I’m not “siding with the general public”, I just know an absolute mess of a movie when I see one!” Widow argued back in a playful manner.

“Awww come on! It’s one of the only two movies in the franchise that has your favorite character! That’s gotta count for something, right?” Shadow protested with a grin.

“Oh, not at all! The fact that such a train-wreck would feature her greatness is an insult to her honor!” Widow huffed, dramatically crossing her arms.

“Well… It’s the only movie in the franchise that has my favorite character…!” Shadow mentioned with puppy-dog eyes. A last ditch effort for sympathy.

“They deserve a better movie and you know it! Besides, that’s only because it’s still the latest movie in the franchise - which is a damn shame!” Widow countered.

“Hmph… Now I am the one that is “out of the loop”, as they say.” Doom lamented.

“Maybe we can do another marathon after we get to the Aerth Temple and get everything set up?” A voice that sounded strikingly like Garrick’s suggested.

Lo and behold, when Widow and Shadow turned around to see where the voice had come from, there Garrick was, with Blurk standing beside him.

“Oh! Hello Garrick!” Widow greeted, pleasantly surprised.

“That sounds like a good idea… But what are you doing here?” Shadow inquired of Garrick.

“I was sent out by Ma to go find you two and ask you how much longer you were planning on extending this break of yours, since there is still stuff that needs to be done.” Blurk explained quite straightforwardly, as he tends to do.

“And I tagged along because I like spending time with Blurk!” Garrick added excitedly.

“O-oh. I do suppose I’ve taken some more time away than I should have…” Shadow admitted, feeling embarrassed. “If I am going to be a vessel for my father, then I should lead a good example like he does! Tell Eclipse that I am immediately returning to work now!”

“And send Eclipse my apologies, please! I had just wanted to speak to Doomie about one specific thing, but then we got… sidetracked…!” Widow requested, practically pleading with Blurk, as she hoped that Eclipse wasn’t too upset with her.

“Got it.” Blurk replied, giving the both of them a thumbs up.

“Well, I’ll leave you to it, then…! I'd best be off… Until next time…!” Doom said to Widow and Shadow, being unable to help but yawn as he spoke.

“I shall call upon you if we are in need of you again.” Shadow told him as Widow began to walk off with the two young boys towards where the rest of the Black Arms were camped at, Shadow then following after them as Doom’s ghost faded from view.

[greenleaf4stuff]

Okay so I watched Picard s3e9 and- honestly this makes me question even more why Hugh was handled as he was in s1. Or, rather, I think having him in this season and this episode specifically would have added *so much* to the plot. (TNG and Picard spoilers ahead!)

(- generally, every season of Picard has involved the borg somehow, so the choice to have xB characters like Icheb and Hugh die in s1 (and not using the Jurati!Borg from s2) makes even less sense to me)

- Wasn’t Hugh the (ex-)borg whose individuality ‘infected’ a whole cube? If anyone would have been a perfect ‘antidote’ to the current borg threat, aside from Seven of Nine and Picard, it would have been Hugh imo

- The borg returning and finding a way to infect the whole of Starfleet would have been Hugh’s worst nightmare most likely, but also a chance for him to face his past and help against the threat; there are whole character arcs hidden in this situation (and the aftermath - like his work on helping xBs would have to be used for a *lot* of people)

- If he still worked on the Artifact, it could either be another ship not connected to the fleet or the borg could try to ‘reclaim’ it, both of which would be interesting; either Picard and friends would have xBs working alongside them in a rogue borg cube, or there could be a storyline about how much Hugh’s influence and work helped to give xBs individuality, hope, resilience etc. After all, ‘resistance is never futile’.

- Him being (another) enemy of the borg queen would also have been a very cool thing; he has to face the entity who took his individuality and hurt so many people he has come to care about, so facing off against her would be terrifying but also bring a potential catharsis for him, and could show how much he has grown between TNG and PIC.

- I feel like he could have had a much better chance at talking down Jack than Picard; Picard saw Hugh as a potential weapon as well for some time, back when the Enterprise found him. He would understand some of Jack’s fears and be able to relate to him, make him understand that the ‘belonging’ Jack seeks is not in the hivemind and how to resist it (again, ‘resistence is never futile’ etc)

(- honestly I am so, so sad these two characters never got to interact tbh)

- Hugh, being an xB, helping Picard and the others save the fleet would likely do a lot to help people accept xBs much more, and since Hugh’s research in helping xBs might apply to victims of the mass assimilation, he and his work would become a very integral part of Starfleet and the Federation, which would also be cool to see - how does Hugh handle the increased interest in his work etc?

- him helping the likes of Jack and Sydney to overcome their experiences as borg and helping them in their recovery would just be awesome to watch honestly; he is such a kind and caring guy, he knows what these people went through and what they need to trust themselves and each other again; the scenes would be so wonderful to watch and the relationships built would be so interesting

- also, if the borg queen knew about him and his previous ‘disruption’ of a whole cube as well as his current work, she would likely try and have him dead; which would be an opportunity for the other xBs to protect him and show him that others care about him deeply

- Maybe Hugh has to voluntarily use the queen cell on the Artifact? And once more, his individuality mitigates *some* of the assimilation at least? (Also a battle of the minds/individuality vs the collective between Hugh and the borg would be pretty cool as well)

- Because I like Elnor’s and Hugh’s interactions in s1; would Elnor have been assimilated as well, or not? Would he fight the assimilation? If possible, he would for sure try and protect Hugh at the very least, and in turn Hugh would also want to protect him from the borg, spurning them both on to do their best to help Picard etc.

- tl;dr: Hugh could have added a lot to this season of PIC and the last episode specifically, and I feel it is a shame the character didn’t get the opportunity to do so. I only hope if they make more ST series around that time frame that one of them ends up bringing Hugh back and letting him do his awesome work with the survivors of the mass assimilation from ep9.

[gethoce]

Oooh interesting, I didn't think Zero would do so well on this one! I was kinda worried Nightmare would just steal the show because of his role in the anime. Also very glad to see that so many acknowledge Necrodeus' genius here! Meanwhile the one guy with "mind" in his name is almost last place. lol

Anyway, my own headcanons below the cut

No 1. Necrodeus

In my AU he was once the leader of the magical faction of Halcandra, the Photrons, during the planet's golden age. Needless to say he had all the resources to grow and learn one could wish for available to him and made good use of them.

He may have lost most of his memories upon death, yet he didn't lose his cunning and relearning skills came easy to him. To this day his abilities as a leader remain unmatched. Not only did he manage to almost kill Kirby himself, but also coordinated the Skull Gang so well, Kirby had a hard time reaching his domain alive.

No 2. Nightmare

A master tactician who operates from the shadows, slowly learning the enemies weaknesses and fears just to use them to his advantage. He managed to run his own cooperation, using not only his mind control powers, but also his wit and certain sense of charm.

Nightmare is a patient fiend, but also a trickster who enjoys playing with his victims, which brought upon his downfall. Getting locked up within the fountain of dreams certainly was a low point in his life. If only he had not threatened the wrong kinda penguin.

No 3. Zero

They were the leader of a hivemind, which offered them a certain advantage in numbers, yet their knowledge library was't nearly as diverse as it could have been. Zero's sole goal was to grow and expand their territory by assimilating planet's societies into their tribe.

They would possess the citizens and slowly turn them into Dark Matter. While they would have liked to also retain their victim's knowledge to make it their own, the victims lose their memories upon transforming fully and attempting to bring the knowledge back had shown to have… side effects that caused them to rebel against Zero.

No 4. Dark Mind

While he thinks of himself as some kind of mastermind, he is more of a brute. Dark Mind knows no patience and is primarily driven by rage, so his tactics tend to be too simple and easy to figure out. He has the power to manipulate emotions, yet can not grasp the concepts that make them work.

Dark Meta Knight wasn't as much under his control as he thought, only taking the mission about Meta Knight seriously and sabotaged the Kirby assassination. Dark Mind didn't even consider making use of Shadow Kirby believing them to be weak by appearance alone.

No 5. Dark Nebula

They're an entity primarily driven by istincts. No grand plans, only territorial disputes and hunger in their head. Upon being split into a dozen pieces by Necrodeus they lost the one thing that made them terrifying, their strength.

It was easy to lock them into a chest and even easier to keep them inside. Until some unfortunate soul opened the chest that is.

[mirekat]

***PICARD SPOILERS***

Dammit, Picard, you had such a good thing going with Agnes and the Borg Queen and then you went and jettisoned it! Or probably jettisoned it. There’s still time for plot twists, I suppose, but based on the last couple of episodes I’d really hoped the show was going to do something new with the idea of kind-of-mutual assimilation, something more compelling than ‘Queen turns Agnes into evil drone.’ Because let’s be real, the most interesting thing about this Borg Queen is that she’s so susceptible to Agnes. The alienated human and the even more alienated command-node-of-a-dead-hivemind that she’s taken inside herself are more than a match for each other; Agnes has crawled into the Queen’s head as much as the Queen has crawled into hers, and the gnawing hunger for intimacy that underpins their power struggle is at least as strong on the Queen’s side as on her counterpart’s. So why not lean into that dynamic? Why not give us five more hours of the two of them bickering and cajoling and spiraling into increasingly poisonous codependency as they fail to appreciate the ways their shared sensorium of nerves and nanobots makes them, together, unique?

I guess what I’d have loved to see, in other words, is an earnest exploration of what it means to be a Borg Queen without the Borg. Here’s this former drone, the last of her kind, grasping for dominance because that’s the only way she, as an individual, can parse the memory of embodying a collective will. And here’s this human, who spent the last season subject to violent mind control, only willing to open herself to someone whose mind she quite literally embodies. Both of them are starved for a kind of unconditional belonging, and both of them are too caught up in their respective histories of violence to imagine other modes of relating to each other. 

And this--this fascinates me! Turning away from this ambivalence in favor of a more conventional narrative of villain and victim, violator and violated, both makes the scenario’s setup far more disturbing (Trek, can we please stop implying that survivors of thinly-allegorized assault invited their assault?) and precludes any sense of surprise or, frankly, fun. 

Anyway, catch me in the corner rewriting the rest of the Agnes/Queen arc as a bleak psychosexual nightmare of a buddy comedy--a farce that, by dint of fear and self-delusion and misplaced desire, gradually becomes a tragedy.

[razmerry]

“Would you say you have feelings of anger and a need for revenge, Agent Washington?

More than you know.”

Lol sorry for being dramatic, but I feel like it fits Washington. I’m also slightly obsessed with him in this AU. I keep looking at this drawing and being like holy shit!! Wash is real and he’s on my screen!!

Here’s some notes about our favorite angsty Freelancer:

- Only two of the Reds and Blues needed name changes (Simmons/Simron and Caboose/Mikall), but I actually ended up changing a lot of the names of the Freelancers; nearly all of them, I think. Wash’s name is derived from his first name David. I could’ve done something like D’Vad, but I didn’t want it to be too close to his real name, and I think D’Vak has more of a rhythm to it. 

- Now that I’m drawing the Freelancers, I get to expand more on my ideas for the Project. Basically, the Director is trying to integrate Borg technology into his subjects to make them more effective soldiers. See, if they can achieve the mental synergy between subjects without actually creating a true Hivemind, they would theoretically be able to communicate extremely well, becoming a deadly force for the Federation’s armies. As you can guess, though, in the end the Project failed and Wash was one of its victims. 

- I just realized I actually have so much to say about this, so Tumblr gets to have my full rambly thoughts whereas Instagram cannot. Similar to what happens in the canon of RvB, Wash’s implantation goes horribly wrong. Except in this case, instead of Epsilon breaking his brain, the process of assimilation that is supposed to be slow is hasty and sped up too much at the end, and Wash is aggressively and rapidly plunged into a Hivemind, then yanked out just as quickly. Along with what happens in canon, this is going on as Tex and York break into the MOI, so Wash is left alone as alarms are going off. The reason he has so many scars is because he was trying to tear as much of this tech out of his as possible, in a very messy manner. Poor Wash :(

- Vulcans are one species in Trek that I’ve frankly never been too interested in, but I thought it fit Wash’s character very well, and even played into his arc in some really interesting ways. Wash starts as a Vulcan who’s been reprimanded for his temper, outburts, and inability to retain emotional control - in that Vulcan way where he still seems stiff to outsiders, but you can kind of clearly see he’s trying way too hard. After the end of the Project and his disastrous final surgeries that lead into him becoming Recovery One, Wash swings way too hard in the opposite direction, completely locking off any emotional contact with himself or anyone else. It pains me a bit to tweak this part of his character, because in RvB Recovery Wash is cold and calculating, sure, but he’s also kind of stupid and dramatic? So Trek Wash still has his charisma and iciness, but the yelling is toned down. 

- Coming out of Recovery and moving into Chorus and his post-Recollection arc, I wanted him to start coming to terms with what it means to be himself and to be a Vulcan, and get in touch with his feelings and culture in a healthy way, as opposed to the back and forth-ness of his PFL time and the complete shutdown of Recovery. This is also reflected in his final uniform, which still remains a little reminiscent of his Section 31 leather, but is made of looser fabrics and in the style of a Vulcan pel-el. He also completely bleaches his hair as Recovery, but lets it start to grow back to its natural black after Recollection. AND he has a beard because I love beard Wash. 

Damn, that really ended up being a lot more than I thought it would. Apparently I just have so much nonsense to say about Wash, so my immense thanks to anyone who bothers to read any of it. 

Next is Carolina!

[parasiticghostwasps]

Less than a week until my badwrong Magnus Archives friends get to meet Hatoful’s canon mentally ill eldritch monstrosity who assimilates his victims into his hivemind!! 💛❤️💙

[lasplaga]

UNDERSTANDING THE OTHER WAS AN UNDERSTATEMENT.

&, from Osmund, a mutant that was 'one-mind' divided among innumerable bodies, impossible. Glenn would never know the pain of losing the same limb, to feel the experience of death, & a consciousness forming upon conception, for an eternity. To be haunted by spirits of the deceased that were perceptible as disembodied voices. Las Plagas was beyond an infiltration of a nervous system, it flowed in the depths of their beings of all who resided in this forsaken land. The parasite created & birthed new life as much as it eroded & destroyed all around it. All of this, every conscious moment, was Osmund's sole existence. A morbid form of spiritual omniscience manifesting as a biological Hivemind, beyond the relationship of a Queen & her numberless, unthinking drones.

The Priest could recall three offerings made in his lifetime by WILLING humans, those who voluntarily sold their soul to 𝕋𝕙𝕖 𝔻𝕖𝕧𝕚𝕝. Out of desperation, Catalina presented her newborn, a sickly fading babe to be baptized. In love & utter reverence, Chief Mendez gouged his own eye, to serve as a key, nothing but a tool for his blasphemous God. A kind-hearted maid with an appreciation for death, a mortician found solace & acceptance in a man tainted by UNDEATH, following him to the grave. Three offered flesh, & flesh of the parasite was given ; To immortalize them in uniquely, hellish ways.

Glenn would become the fourth.

An assumption, but perhaps the human understood that his species served a particular purpose upon Earth, to be implanted, consumed & fertilized as prey. Eternally submissive to a biological superior. Despite KNOWING his kind were being predated upon by an assimilated superorganism, there was a lack of discontentment between them. The Merchant NEVER disparaged the other for feeding upon the innocent, or the deserving ; Rather, SACRIFICED a lamb for him to sink his fangs into, to spool & swallow their intestines. It mattered not if they were charred upon a pyre or scorched organically by injection, there was nourishment to be found even in the most seared of bones & meat.

" 𝔗𝔬 𝔬𝔟𝔢𝔶 𝔦𝔰 𝔟𝔢𝔱𝔱𝔢𝔯 𝔱��𝔞𝔫 𝔰𝔞𝔠𝔯𝔦𝔣𝔦𝔠𝔢. " The screams of the victim, nor the stench of burning flesh dissuaded him from his intent to utterly DEVOUR. However, if the 'business associate' would linger whilst The Priest swallowed the offering whole as if a ravenous serpent, would remain to be seen. It was a possibility the inevitable unhinging of his jaws & sharpening of teeth would enrapture, prove beyond all doubt Las Plagas would utterly consume the world. " 𝔜𝔬𝔲 𝔥𝔞𝔳𝔢 𝔭𝔯𝔬𝔳𝔢𝔫 𝔶𝔬𝔲𝔯𝔰𝔢𝔩𝔣 𝔟𝔢𝔶𝔬𝔫𝔡 𝔢𝔵𝔭𝔢𝔠𝔱𝔞𝔱𝔦𝔬𝔫. "

continued

PUSHBACK WAS NOT SOMETHING HE DID NOT ANTICIPATE, with the research he has done and the scale he used to weigh his gain and by proximity THEIRS by an oath between them, of ALL THE THINGS TO BE ASKED OF HIM, a sacrifice was something he could manage quickly. It was no trouble really to KILL, as his last profession had that as part of the optional requirements, sometimes, he had to do what needed to be done. But SACRIFICE, something that was to be done out of something better for those killed, and killers. Yet, TO KILL simply does not bring the grace that was ingrained into the ritual but adamant he could make worthy. 

There was a lot of ways to give his all, it really just depends on what was being ASKED of him, to burn them ? To carve the markings of LAS PLAGAS into their body, pulling out flesh to reveal a quivering, bleeding yet delicate work of art, all to be slain and promised they were going to a special place, that this suffering now will be hushed by paradise, with parasite.

❝ If you wish for them to be burn, then they will be burned. Just as if you would rather want drowned, or bled out. I know in this moment we are still trying to understand each other, but I promise you this when I say that I have already came prepared. ❞

Having brought someone from his own land, rather it had been FORCE or TRICKERY, that much did not matter now, but he had told them before leaving that their life was going to be used to DO SOMETHING BETTER. No more bombing weddings from him.

NOW IT HAD TO BE DONE RIGHT OF COURSE, simply lighting a fire under his lamb was quick, lazy even, and if there was something Glenn was not, it was to be lazy. From what he came prepared with, his MEDICINE he would pinch them with, to allow the searing white heat of lighting to shoot through vital veins, to burn from the inside first, like the cleansing of underbrush, but done organically instead.

The inside MUST match the out, to watch them become ready to be HOLY, writhing and screaming out their sin, tear ducts drying out and the skin becomes the firewood to the flint and steel that was now also the oxygen in the air. LIT ON FIRE FROM THE INSIDE OUT, that was the perfect way to show he knows what he was getting himself into.

@lasplaga

[rawliverandcigarettes]

Mass Effect Retribution, a review

Mass Effect Retribution is the third book in the official Mass Effect trilogy by author Drew Karpyshyn, who happens to also be Lead Writer for Mass Effect 1 and Mass Effect 2.

I didn’t expect to pick it up, because to be very honest I didn’t expect to like it. 9 years ago I borrowed Mass Effect Revelations, and I still recall the experience as underwhelming. But this fateful fall of 2020 I had money (yay) and I saw the novel on the shelf of a swedish nerd store. I guess guilt motivated me to give the author another try: guilt, because I’ve been writing a Mass Effect fanfiction for an ungodly amount of years and I’ve been deathly afraid of lore that might contradict my decisions ever since I started -but I knew this book covered elements that are core to plot elements of my story, and I was willing to let my anxiety to the door and see what was up.

Disclaimer: I didn’t reread Mass Effect Revelation before plunging into this read, and entirely skipped Ascension. So anything in relation to character introduction and continuity will have to be skipped.

Back-cover pitch (the official, unbiased, long one)

Humanity has reached the stars, joining the vast galactic community of alien species. But beyond the fringes of explored space lurk the Reapers, a race of sentient starships bent on “harvesting” the galaxy’s organic species for their own dark purpose. The Illusive Man, leader of the pro-human black ops group Cerberus, is one of the few who know the truth about the Reapers. To ensure humanity’s survival, he launches a desperate plan to uncover the enemy’s strengths—and weaknesses—by studying someone implanted with modified Reaper technology. He knows the perfect subject for his horrific experiments: former Cerberus operative Paul Grayson, who wrested his daughter from the cabal’s control with the help of Ascension project director Kahlee Sanders. But when Kahlee learns that Grayson is missing, she turns to the only person she can trust: Alliance war hero Captain David Anderson. Together they set out to find the secret Cerberus facility where Grayson is being held. But they aren’t the only ones after him. And time is running out. As the experiments continue, the sinister Reaper technology twists Grayson’s mind. The insidious whispers grow ever stronger in his head, threatening to take over his very identity and unleash the Reapers on an unsuspecting galaxy. This novel is based on a Mature-rated video game.

Global opinion (TL;DR)

I came in hoping to be positively surprised and learn a thing or two about Reapers, about Cerberus and about Aria T’loak. I wasn’t, and I didn’t learn much. What I did learn was how cool ideas can get wasted by the very nature of game novelization, as the defects are not singular to this novel but quite widespread in this genre, and how annoyed I can get at an overuse of dialogue tags. The pacing is good and the narrative structure alright: everything else poked me in the wrong spots and rubbed how the series have always handled violence on my face with cruder examples. If I was on Good Reads, I’d probably give it something like 2 stars, for the pacing, some of the ideas, and my general sympathy for the IP novel struggle.

The indepth review continue past this point, just know there will be spoilers for the series, the Omega DLC which is often relevant, and the book itself!

What I enjoyed

Drew Karpyshyn is competent in narrative structure, and that does a lot for the pacing. Things rarely drag, and we get from one event to the next seamlessly. I’m not surprised this is one of the book’s qualities, as it comes from the craft of a game writer: pacing and efficiency are mandatory skills in this field. I would have preferred a clearer breaking point perhaps, but otherwise it’s a nice little ride that doesn’t ask a lot of effort from you (I was never tempted to DNF the book because it was so easy to read).

This book is packed with intringuing ideas -from venturing in the mind of the Illusive Man to assist, from the point of view of the victim, to Grayson’s biological transformation and assimilation into the Reaper hivemind, we get plenty to be excited for. I was personally intrigued about Liselle, Aria T’loak’s secret daughter, and eager to get a glimpse at the mind of the Queen Herself -also about how her collaboration with Cerberus came to be. Too bad none of these ideas go anywhere nor are being dealt with in an interesting way!!! But the concepts themselves were very good, so props for setting up interesting premices.

Pain is generally well described. It gets the job done.

I liked Sanak, the batarian that works as a second to Aria. He’s not very well characterized and everyone thinks he’s dumb (rise up for our national himbo), even though he reads almost smarter than her on multiple occasions, but I was happy whenever he was on the page, so yay for Sanak. But it might just be me having a bias for batarians.

Cool to have Kai Leng as a point of view character. I wasn’t enthralled by what was done with it, as he remains incredibly basic and as basically hateable and ungrounded than in Mass Effect 3 (I think he’s very underwhelming as a villain and he should have been built up in Mass Effect 2 to be effective). But there were some neat moments, such as the description of the Afterlife by Grayson who considers it as tugging at his base instincts, compared to Leng’s description of it where everything is deemed disgusting. The execution is not the best, but the concept was fun.

Pre-Reaperification Paul Grayson wasn’t the worst point of view to follow. I wasn’t super involved in his journey and didn’t care when he died one way or the other, but I empathized with his problems and hoped he would find a way out of the cycle of violence. The setup of his character arc was interesting, it’s just sad that any resolution -even negative- was dropped to focus on Reapers and his relationship with Kahlee Sanders, as I think the latter was the least interesting part.

The cover is cool and intringuing. Very soapy. It’s my favorite out of all the official novels, as it owns the cheesier aspect of the series, has nice contrasts and immediately asks questions. Very 90s/2000s. It’s great.

You may notice every thing I enjoyed was coated in complaints, because it’s a reflection of my frustration at this book for setting up interesting ideas and then completely missing the mark in their execution. So without further due, let’s talk about what I think the book didn’t do right.

1. Dumb complaints that don’t matter much

After reading the entire book, I am still a bit confused at to why Tim (the Illusive Man’s acronym is TIM in fandom, but I find immense joy in reffering to him as just Tim) wants his experimentation to be carried out on Grayson specifically, especially when getting to him is harder than pretty much anyone else (also wouldn’t pushing the very first experiments on alien captives make more sense given it’s Cerberus we’re talking about?). It seem to be done out of petty revenge, which is fine, but it still feels like quite the overlook to mess with a competent fighter, enhance him, and then expect things to stay under control (which Tim kind of doesn’t expect to, and that’s even weirder -why waste your components on something you plan to terminate almost immediately). At the same time, the pettiness is the only characterization we get out of Tim so good I guess? But if so, I wished it would have been accentuated to seem even more deliberate (and not have Tim regret to see it in himself, which flattens him and doesn’t inform the way he views the world and himself -but we’ll get to that).

I really disliked the way space travel is characterized. And that might be entirely just me, and perhaps it doesn’t contradict the rest of the lore, but space travel is so fast. People pop up left and right in a matter of hours. At some point we even get a mention of someone being able to jump 3 different Mass Relays and then arrive somewhere in 4 hours. I thought you first had to discharge your ship around a stellar object before being able to engage in the next jump (and that imply finding said object, which would have to take more than an hour). It’s not that big of a deal, but it completely crammed this giant world to a single boulevard for me and my hard-science-loving tastes. Not a big deal, but not a fan at all of this choice.

You wouldn’t believe how often people find themselves in a fight naked or in their underwear. It happens at least 3 times (and everyone naked survives -except one, we’ll get to her later).

Why did I need to know about this fifteen year’s old boner for his older teacher. Surely there were other ways to have his crush come across without this detail, or then have it be an actual point of tension in their relationship and not just a “teehee” moment. Weird choice imo.

I’m not a fan of the Talons. I don’t find them interesting or compelling. There is nothing about them that informs us on the world they live in. The fact they’re turian-ruled don’t tell us anything about turian culture that, say, the Blue Suns don’t tell us already. It’s a generic gang that is powerful because it is. I think they’re very boring, in this book and in the Omega DLC alike (a liiittle less in the DLC because of Nyreen, barely). Not a real criticism, I just don’t care for them at all.

I might just be very ace, but I didn’t find Anderson and Kahlee Sanders to have much chemistry. Same for Kahlee and Grayson (yes we do have some sort of love-triangle-but-not-really, but it’s not very important and it didn’t bother me much). Their relationships were all underwhelming to me, and I’ll explain why in part 4.

The red sand highs are barely described, and very safely -probably not from a place of intimate knowledge with drugs nor from intense research. Addiction is a delicate topic, and I feel like it could have been dealt with better, or not be included at all.

There are more of these, but I don’t want to turn this into a list of minor complaints for things that are more a matter of taste than craft quality or thematic relevance. So let’s move on.

2. Who cares about aliens in a Mass Effect novel

Now we’re getting into actual problems, and this one is kind of endemic to the Mass Effect novels (I thought the same when I read Revelation 9 years ago, though maybe less so as Saren in a PoV character -but I might have forgotten so there’s that). The aliens are described and characterized in the most uncurious, uninspired manner. Krogans are intimidating brutes. Turians are rigid. Asaris are sexy. Elcors are boring. Batarians are thugs (there is something to be said with how Aria’s second in command is literally the same batarian respawned with a different name in Mass Effect 2, this book, then the Omega DLC). Salarians are weak nerds. (if you allow me this little parenthesis because of course I have to complain about salarian characterization: the only salarian that speaks in the book talks in a cheap ripoff of Mordin’s speech pattern, which sucks because it’s specific to Mordin and not salarians as a whole, and is there to be afraid of a threat as a joke. This is SUCH a trope in the original trilogy -especially past Mass Effect 1 when they kind of give up on salarians except for a few chosen ones-, that salarians’ fear is not to be taken seriously and the only salarians who are to be considered don’t express fear at all -see Mordin and Kirrahe. It happens at least once per game, often more. This is one of the reasons why the genophage subplot is allowed to be so morally simple in ME3 and remove salarians from the equation. I get why they did that, but it’s still somewhat of a copeout. On this front, I have to give props to Andromeda for actually engaging with violence on salarians in a serious manner. It’s a refreshing change) I didn’t learn a single thing about any of these species, how they work, what they care about in the course of these 79750 words. I also didn’t learn much about their relationships to other species, including humans. I’ll mention xenophobia in more details later, but this entire aspect of the story takes a huge hit because of this lack of investment of who these species are.

I’ve always find Mass Effect, despite its sprawling universe full of vivid ideas and unique perspectives, to be strangely enamoured with humans, and it has never been so apparent than here. Only humans get to have layers, deserving of empathy and actual engagement. Only their pain is real and important. Only their death deserve mourning (we’ll come back to that). I’d speculate this comes from the same place that was terrified to have Liara as a love interest in ME1 in case she alienated the audience, and then later was surprised when half the fanbase was more interested in banging the dinosaur-bird than their fellow humans: Mass Effect often seem afraid of losing us and breaking our capacity for self-projection. It’s a very weird concern, in my opinion, that reveals the most immature, uncertain and soapy parts of the franchise. Here it’s punched to eleven, and I find it disappointing. It also have a surprising effect on the narrative: again, we’ll come back to that.

3. The squandered potential of Liselle and Aria

Okay. This one hurts. Let’s talk about Liselle: she’s introduced in the story as a teammate to Grayson, who at the time works as a merc for Aria T’loak on Omega, and also sleeps with him on the regular. She likes hitting the Afterlife’s dancefloor: she’s very admired there, as she’s described as extremely attractive. One night after receiving a call from Grayson, she rejoins him in his apartment. They have sex, then Kai Leng and other Cerberus agents barge in to capture Grayson -a fight break out (the first in a long tradition of naked/underwear fights), and both of them are stunned with tranquilizers. Grayson is to be taken to the Illusive Man. Kai Leng decides to slit Liselle’s throat as she lays unconscious to cover their tracks. When Aria T’loak and her team find her naked on a bed, throat gaping and covered in blood, Liselle is revealed, through her internal monologue, to be Aria’s secret daughter -that she kept secret for both of their safety. So Liselle is a sexpot who dies immediately in a very brutal and disempowered manner. This is a sad way to handle Aria T’loak’s daughter I think, but I assume it was done to give a strong motivation to the mother, who thinks Grayson did it. And also, it’s a cool setup to explore her psyche: how does she feel about business catching up with her in such a personal manner, how does she feel about the fact she couldn’t protect her own offspring despite all her power, what’s her relationship with loss and death, how does she slip when under high emotional stress, how does she deal with such a vulnerable position of having to cope without being able to show any sign of weakness... But the book does nothing with that. The most interesting we get is her complete absence of outward reaction when she sees her daughter as the centerpiece of a crime scene. Otherwise we have mentions that she’s not used to lose relatives, vague discomfort when someone mentions Liselle might have been raped, and vague discomfort at her body in display for everyone to gawk at. It’s not exactly revelatory behavior, and the missed potential is borderline criminal. It also doesn’t even justify itself as a strong motivation, as Aria vaguely tries to find Grayson again and then gives up until we give her intel on a silver platter. Then it almost feels as if she forgot her motivation for killing Grayson, and is as motivated by money than she is by her daughter’s murder (and that could be interesting too, but it’s not done in a deliberate way and therefore it seems more like a lack of characterization than anything else).

Now, to Aria. Because this book made me realize something I strongly dislike: the framing might constantly posture her as intelligent, but Aria T’loak is... kind of dumb, actually? In this book alone she’s misled, misinformed or tricked three different times. We’re constantly ensured she’s an amazing people reader but never once do we see this ability work in her favor -everyone fools her all the time. She doesn’t learn from her mistakes and jump from Cerberus trap to Cerberus trap, and her loosing Omega to them later is laughably stupid after the bullshit Tim put her through in this book alone. I’m not joking when I say the book has to pull out an entire paragraph on how it’s easier to lie to smart people to justify her complete dumbassery during her first negotiation with Tim. She doesn’t seem to know anything about how people work that could justify her power. She’s not politically savvy. She’s not good at manipulation. She’s just already established and very, very good at kicking ass. And I wouldn’t mind if Aria was just a brutish thug who maintains her power through violence and nothing else, that could also be interesting to have an asari act that way. But the narrative will not bow to the reality they have created for her, and keep pretending her flaw is in extreme pride only. This makes me think of the treatment of Sansa Stark in the latest seasons of Game of Thrones -the story and everyone in it is persuaded she’s a political mastermind, and in the exact same way I would adore for it to be true, but it’s just... not. It’s even worse for Aria, because Sansa does have victories by virtue of everyone being magically dumber than her whenever convenient. Aria just fails, again and again, and nobody seem to ever acknowledge it. Sadly her writing here completely justifies her writing in the Omega DLC and the comics, which I completely loathe; but turns out Aria isn’t smart or savvy, not even in posture or as a façade. She’s just violent, entitled, easily fooled, and throws public tantrums when things don’t go her way. And again, I guess that would be fine if only the narrative would recognize what she is. Me, I will gently ignore most of this (in her presentation at least, because I think it’s interesting to have something pitiful when you dig a little) and try to write her with a bit more elevation. But this was a very disappointing realization to have.

4. The squandered potential of Grayson and the Reapers

The waste of a subplot with Aria and Liselle might have hurt me more in a personal way, but what went down between Grayson and the Reapers hurts the entire series in a startling manner. And it’s so infuriating because the potential was there. Every setpiece was available to create something truly unique and disturbing by simply following the series’ own established lore. But this is not what happens. See, when The Illusive Man, our dearest Tim, captures Grayson for a betrayal that happened last book (something about his biotic autistic daughter -what’s the deal with autistic biotics being traumatized by Cerberus btw), he decides to use him as the key part of an experiment to understand how Reapers operate. So he forcefully implants the guy with Reaper technology (what they do exactly is unclear) to study his change into a husk and be prepared when Reapers come for humanity -it’s also compared to what happened with Saren when he “agreed” to be augmented by Sovereign. From there on, Grayson slowly turns into a husk. Doesn’t it sound fascinating, to be stuck in the mind of someone losing themselves to unknowable monsters? If you agree with me then I’m sorry because the execution is certainly... not that. The way the author chooses to describe the event is to use the trope of mind control used in media like Get Out: Grayson taking the backseat of his own mind and body. And I haaaaate it. I hate it so much. I don’t hate the trope itself (it can be interesting in other media, like Get Out!), but I loathe that it’s used here in a way that totally contradicts both the lore and basic biology. Grayson doesn’t find himself manipulated. He doesn’t find himself justifying increasingly jarring actions the way Saren has. He just... loses control of himself, disagreeing with what’s being done with him but not able to change much about it. He also can fight back and regain control sometimes -but his thoughts are almost untainted by Reaper influence. The technology is supposed to literally replace and reorganize the cells of his body; is this implying that body and mind are separated, that there maybe exists a soul that transcends indoctrination? I don’t know but I hate it. This also implies that every victim of the Reaper is secretely aware of what they’re doing and pained and disagreeing with their own actions. And I’m sorry but if it’s true, I think this sucks ass and removes one of the creepiest ideas of the Mass Effect universe -that identity can and will be lost, and that Reapers do not care about devouring individuality and reshaping it to the whims of their inexorable march. Keeping a clear stream of consciousness in the victim’s body makes it feel like a curse and not like a disease. None of the victims are truly gone that way, and it removes so much of the tragic powerlessness of organics in their fight against the machines. Imagine if Saren watched himself be a meanie and being like “nooo” from within until he had a chance to kill himself in a near-victorious battle, compared to him being completely persuaded he’s acting for the good of organic life until, for a split second, he comes to realize he doesn’t make any sense and is loosing his mind like someone with dementia would, and needs to grasp to this instant to make the last possible thing he could do to save others and his own mind from domination. I feel so little things for Saren in the former case, and so much for the latter. But it might just be me: I’m deeply touched by the exploration of how environment and things like medication can change someone’s behavior, it’s such a painfully human subject while forceful mind control is... just kind of cheap.

SPEAKING OF THE REAPERS. Did you know “The Reapers” as an entity is an actual character in this book? Because it is. And “The Reapers” is not a good character. During the introduction of Grayson and explaining his troubles, we get presented with the mean little voice in his head. It’s his thoughts in italics, nothing crazy, in fact it’s a little bit of a copeout from actually implementing his insecurities into the prose. But I gave the author the benefit of the doubt, as I knew Grayson would be indoctrinated later, and I fully expected the little voice to slowly start twisting into what the Reapers suggested to him. This doesn’t happen, or at least not in that slowburn sort of way. Instead the little voice is dropped almost immediately, and the Reapers are described, as a presence. And as the infection progresses, what Grayson do become what the Reapers do. The Reapers have emotions, it turns out. They’re disgusted at organic discharges. They’re pleased when Grayson accomplish what they want, and it’s told as such. They foment little plans to get their puppet to point A to point B, and we are privy to their calculations. And I’m sorry but the best way to ruin your lovecraftian concept is to try and explain its motivations and how it thinks. Because by definition the unknown is scarier, smarter, and colder than whatever a human author could come up with. I couldn’t take the Reapers’ dumb infiltration plans seriously, and now I think they are dumb all the time, and I didn’t want to!! The only cases in which the Reapers influence Grayson, we are told in very explicit details how so. For example, they won’t let Grayson commit suicide by flooding his brain with hope and determination when he tries, or they will change the words he types when he tries to send a message to Kahlee Sanders. And we are told exactly what they do every time. There was a glorious occasion to flex as a writer by diving deep into an unreliable narrator and write incredibly creepy prose, but I guess we could have been confused, and apparently that’s not allowed. And all of this is handled that poorly becauuuuuse...

5. Subtext is dead and Drew killed it

Now we need to talk about the prose. The style of the author is... let’s be generous and call it functional. It’s about clarity. The writing is so involved in its quest for clarity that it basically ruins the book, and most of the previous issues are direct consequences of the prose and adjacent decisions.The direct prose issues are puzzling, as they are known as rookie technical flaws and not something I would expect from the series’ Lead Writer for Mass Effect 1 and 2, but in this book we find problems such as:

The reliance on adverbs. Example: "Breathing heavily from the exertion, he stood up slowly”. I have nothing about a well-placed adverb that gives a verb a revelatory twist, but these could be replaced by stronger verbs, or cut altogether.

Filtering. Example: “Anderson knew that the fact they were getting no response was a bad sign”. This example is particularly egregious, but characters know things, feel things, realize things (boy do they realize things)... And this pulls us away from their internal world instead of making us live what they live, expliciting what should be implicit. For example, consider the alternative: “They were getting no reponse, which was a bad sign in Anderson’s experience.” We don’t really need the “in Anderson’s experience” either, but that already brings us significantly closer to his world, his lived experience as a soldier.

The goddamn dialogue tags. This one is the worst offender of the bunch. Nobody is allowed to talk without a dialogue tag in this book, and wow do people imply, admit, inform, remark and every other verb under the sun. Consider this example, which made me lose my mind a little: “What are you talking about? Kahlee wanted to know.” I couldn’t find it again, but I’m fairly certain I read a “What is it?” Anderson wanted to know. as well. Not only is it very distracting, it’s also yet another way to remove reader interpretation from the equation (also sometimes there will be a paragraph break inside a monologue -not even a long one-, and that doesn’t seem to be justified by anything? It’s not as big of a problem than the aversion to subtext, but it still confused me more than once)

Another writing choice that hurts the book in disproportionate ways is the reliance on point of view switches. In Retribution, we get the point of view of: Tim, Paul Grayson, Kai Leng, Kahlee Sanders, David Anderson, Aria T’loak, and Nick (a biotic teenager, the one with the boner). Maybe Sanak had a very small section too, but I couldn’t find it again so don’t take my word for it. That’s too many point of views for a plot-heavy 80k book in my opinion, but even besides that: the point of view switch several times in one single chapter. This is done in the most harmful way possible for tension: characters involved in the same scene take turns on the page explaining their perspective about the events, in a way that leaves the reader entirely aware of every stake to every character and every information that would be relevant in a scene. Take for example the first negotiation between Aria and Tim. The second Aria needs to ponder what her best move could possibly be, we get thrown back into Tim’s perspective explaining the exact ways in which he’s trying to deceive her -removing our agency to be either convinced or fooled alongside her. This results in a book that goes out of his way to keep us from engaging with its ideas and do any mental work on our own. Everything is laid out, bare and as overexplained as humanly possible. The format is also very repetitive: characters talk or do an action, and then we spend a paragraph explaining the exact mental reasoning for why they did what they did. There is nothing to interpret. No subtext at all whatsoever; and this contributes in casting a harsh light on the Mass Effect universe, cheapening it and overtly expliciting some of its worst ideas instead of leaving them politely blurred and for us to dress up in our minds. There is only one theme that remains subtextual in my opinion. And it’s not a pretty one.

6. Violence

So here’s the thing when you adapt a third person shooter into a novel: you created a violent world and now you will have to deal with death en-masse too (get it get it I’m so sorry). But while in videogames you can get away with thoughtless murder because it’s a gameplay mechanic and you’re not expected to philosophize on every splatter of blood, novels are all about internalization. Violent murder is by definition more uncomfortable in books, because we’re out of gamer conventions and now every death is actual when in games we just spawned more guys because we wanted that level to be a bit harder and on a subconscious level we know this and it makes it somewhat okay. I felt, in this book, a strange disconnect between the horrendous violence and the fact we’re expected to care about it like we would in a game: not much, or as a spectacle. Like in a game, we are expected to root for the safety of named characters the story indicated us we should be invested in. And because we’re in a book, this doesn’t feel like the objective truth of the universe spelled at us through user interface and quest logs, but the subjective worldview of the characters we’re following. And that makes them.... somewhat disturbing to follow.

I haven’t touched on Anderson and Kahlee Sanders much yet, but now I guess I have too, as they are the worst offenders of what is mentioned above. Kahlee cares about Grayson. She only cares about Grayson -and her students like the forementioned Nick, but mostly Grayson. Grayson is out there murdering people like it’s nobody’s business, but still, keeping Grayson alive is more important that people dying like flies around him. This is vaguely touched on, but not with the gravitas that I think was warranted. Also, Anderson goes with it. Because he cares about Kahlee. Anderson organizes a major political scandal between humans and turians because of Kahlee, because of Grayson. He convinces turians to risk a lot to bring Cerberus down, and I guess that could be understandable, but it’s mostly manipulation for the sake of Grayson’s survival: and a lot of turians die as a result. But not only turians: I was not comfortable with how casually the course of action to deal a huge blow to Cerberus and try to bring the organization down was to launch assault on stations and cover-ups for their organization. Not mass arrests: military assault. They came to arrest high operatives, maybe, but the grunts were okay to slaughter. This universe has a problem with systemic violence by the supposedly good guys in charge -and it’s always held up as the righteous and efficient way compared to these UGH boring politicians and these treaties and peace and such (amirite Anderson). And as the cadavers pile up, it starts to make our loveable protagonists... kind of self-centered assholes. Also: I think we might want to touch on who these cadavers tend to be, and get to my biggest point of discomfort with this novel.

Xenophobia is hard to write well, and I super sympathize with the attempts made and their inherent difficulty. This novel tries to evoke this theme in multiple ways: by virtue of having Cerberus’ heart and blade as point of view characters, we get a window into Tim and Kai Leng’s bigotry against aliens, and how this belief informs their actions. I wasn’t ever sold in their bigotry as it was shown to us. Tim evokes his scorn for whatever aliens do and how it’s inferior to humanity’s resilience -but it’s surface-level, not informed by deep and specific entranched beliefs on aliens motives and bodies, and how they are a threat on humanity according to them. The history of Mass Effect is rich with conflict and baggage between species, yet every expression of hatred is relegated to a vague “eww aliens” that doesn’t feed off systemically enforced beliefs but personal feelings of mistrust and disgust. I’ll take this example of Kai Leng, and his supposedly revulsion at the Afterlife as a peak example of alien decadence: he sees an asari in skimpy clothing, and deems her “whorish”. And this feels... off. Not because I don’t think Kai Leng would consider asaris whorish, but because this is supposed to represent Cerberus’ core beliefs: yet both him and Tim go on and on about how their goal is to uplift humanity, how no human is an enemy. But if that’s the case, then what makes Kai Leng call an Afterlife asari whorish and mean it in a way that’s meaningfully different from how he would consider a human sex worker in similar dispositions? Not that I don’t buy that Cerberus would have a very specific idea of what humans need to be to be considered worth preserving as good little ur-fascists, but this internal bias is never expressed in any way, and it makes the whole act feel hollow. Cerberus is not the only offender, though. Every time an alien expresses bias against humans in a way we’re meant to recognize as xenophobic, it reads the same way: as personal dislike and suspicion. As bullying. Which is such a small part of what bigotry encompasses. It’s so unspecific and divorced from their common history that it just never truly works in my opinion. You know what I thought worked, though? The golden trio of non-Cerberus human characters, and their attitude towards aliens. Grayson’s slight fetishism and suspicion of his attraction to Liselle, how bestial (in a cool, sexy way) he perceives the Afterlife to be. The way Anderson and Kahlee use turians for their own ends and do not spare a single thought towards those who died directly trying to protect them or Grayson immediately after the fact (they are more interested in Kahlee’s broken fingers and in kissing each other). How they feel disgust watching turians looting Cerberus soldiers, not because it’s disrespectful in general and the deaths are a inherent tragedy but because they are turians and the dead are humans. But it's not even really on them: the narration itself is engrossed by the suffering of humans, but aliens are relegated to setpieces in gore spectacles. Not even Grayson truly cares about the aliens the Reapers make him kill. Nobody does. Not even the aliens among each other: see, once again, Aria and Liselle, or Aria and Sanak. Nobody cares. At the very end of the story, Anderson comes to Kahlee and asks if she gives him permission to have Grayson’s body studied, the same way Cerberus planned to. It’s source of discomfort, but Kahlee gives in as it’s important, and probably what Grayson would have wanted, maybe? So yeah. In the end the only subtextual theme to find here (probably as an accident) is how the Alliance’s good guys are not that different from Cerberus it turns out. And I’m not sure how I feel about that.

7. Lore-approved books, or the art of shrinking an expanding universe

I’d like to open the conversation on a bigger topic: the very practice of game novelization, or IP-books. Because as much as I think Drew Karpyshyn’s final draft should not have ended up reading that amateur given the credits to his name, I really want to acknowledge the realities of this industry, and why the whole endeavor was perhaps doomed from the start regardless of Karpyshyn’s talent or wishes as an author.

The most jarring thing about this reading experience is as follows: I spent almost 80k words exploring this universe with new characters and side characters, all of them supposedly cool and interesting, and I learned nothing. I learned nothing new about the world, nothing new about the characters. Now that it’s over, I’m left wondering how I could chew on so much and gain so little. Maybe it’s just me, but more likely it’s by design. Not on poor Drew. Now that I did IP work myself, I have developed an acute sympathy for anyone who has to deal with the maddening contradictions of this type of business. Let me explain.

IP-adjacent media (in the West at least) sure has for goal to expand the universe: but expand as in bloat, not as in deepen. The target for this book is nerds like me, who liked the games and want more of this thing we liked. But then we’re confronted by two major competitors: the actual original media (in ME’s case, the games) whose this product is a marketing tool for, and fandom. IP books are not allowed to compete with the main media: the good ideas are for the main media, and any meaningful development has to be made in the main media (see: what happened with Kai Leng, or how everyone including me complains about the worldbuilding to the Disney Star Swars trilogy being hidden in the novelization). And when it comes to authorship (as in: taking an actual risk with the media and give it a personal spin), then we risk introducing ideas that complicate the main media even though a ridiculously small percent of the public will be attached to it, or ideas that fans despise. Of course we can’t have the latter. And once the fandom is huge enough, digging into anything the fans have strong headcanons for already risks creating a lot of emotions once some of these are made canon and some are disregarded. As much as I joke about how in Mass Effect you can learn about any gun in excrutiating details but we still don’t know if asaris have a concept for marriage... would we really want to know how/if asaris marry, or aren’t we glad we get to be creative and put our own spin on things? The dance between fandom and canon is a delicate one that can and will go wrong. And IP books are generally not worth the drama for the stakeholders.

Add this to insane deadlines, numerous parties all involved in some way and the usual struggles of book writing, and we get a situation where creating anything of value is pretty much a herculean task.

But then I ask... why do IP books *have* to be considered canon? I know this is part of the appeal, and that removing the “licenced” part only leaves us with published fanfiction, but... yeah. Yeah. I think it could be a fascinating model. Can you imagine having your IP and hiring X amount of distinctive authors to give it their own spin, not as definitive additions to the world but as creative endeavours and authorial deepdives? It would allow for these novels to be comparative and companion to the main media instead of being weird appendages that can never compare, and the structure would allow for these stories to be polished and edited to a higher level than most fanfictions. Of course I’m biased because I have a deep belief in the power of fanfiction as commentary and conversational piece. But I would really love to see companies’ approach to creative risk and canon to change. We might get Disney stuff until we die now, so the least we can ask for is for this content to be a little weird, personal and human.

That’s it. That’s the whole review. Thank you for reading, it was very long and weirdly passionate, have a nice dayyyyy.

[avayle]

Psycho-Pass (Episodes 1,3,4,5)

This is my fourth time seeing Psycho-Pass, and it remains within my top 10 anime for it’s stellar commentary on society, artificial intelligence, free will, and morality.

In the first episode we see a naive Akane put in charge of four criminals who are referred to by many as dogs, setting the first precedent of discrimination into the series. They are described as naught but tools to be utilized to bring down other dogs; they are strictly under the orders of their Inspector and are to brave the danger of fighting other criminals in the stead of the good, upstanding citizens the inspectors represent. Akane tries to be nice to them, and to foster a good, healthy relationship with her subordinates, a sentiment challenged by Gino, who behooves her to “not be a fool” and remain exclusively their handler. The cunning of Kougami, the wisdom of Masaoka, and the goofiness of Kagari are obstacles to this, and Akane develops a connection to her team because despite the insistence of society, criminals are still human.

A large premise of this anime lies in the fact that the Sibyl System decides the course of action of those employed at the PSB -- if the Dominator says the offender has a chance of rehabilitation, Sibyl sets the mode of enforcement to Paralyzer. If Sibyl decrees them a lost cause, they shoot to kill. This takes the burden of responsibility away from the wielder, and deems their actions the will of society. This takes away the individual’s free will -- being accustomed to shooting when told makes the Enforcers and Inspectors a simple vessel, a body of the hivemind Sibyl represents. This becomes a problem as the judgement of anyone, even an “omnipotent” AI can never be absolute, as evidenced in Episode 1, when Kougami prepares to kill the rape victim before being paralyzed by Akane. The woman who Sibyl declared a target to be destroyed was able to be rehabilitated through therapy after being spared by Akane’s compassion. This parallels our death penalty, when can a person be redeemed? When are they truly hopeless?

At the end of episode 4, the antagonist of the series, Makishima is introduced. He represents the free will the citizens of society have lost. The murderous drone operator and the online avatar assimilator are both people who suffer under Sibyl and suffer mentally, developing a strong intent to kill but are robbed of their ability to under the suppressive concept of an AI that sees into one’s mind. Makishima connects that intent to kill with the ability to, putting the power back into the hands of the individual.